I changed the wiper motor on my wife's '81 last year, but I have a problem. The plastic cap that covers the motor gears had a reistor inside that was burned in half. I don't know what it is for but I would like to replace it. Since it's burned in half I can't read the color bands to tell it's rating. Can someone please tell me what it is for and what the rating is on it so I can replace it. My friend at radio shack took a WAG (wild ass guess) at it and soddered a reistor in place, this did nothing. I thought it had something to do with the intermitten wipers that don't work, but I was told by many that's not it, the control for that is behind the passenger seat and it cost a fortune to replace.

Resistors usually don't just up and burn in half. If a resistor takes so much current that it gets destroyed, something else caused it to 'blow appart'. I would look around for a short somewhere before I just replace the resistor.

Just a point on the intermitant function. The control is in the box behind the driver. It does cost a fair amount to replace. But, I understand that it can very easily become disconnected if the wires break. The 78 (like mine) is a diffeent set up, so haven't got first hand knowledge, but I gather that it is worth checking the wiring foir the unit to ensure that it' sconnected. I tlink it can affect the wiper operation in general. It certainly does on the 78, if the delay unit goes bad, all the wiper functions stop!

Cant help with the resistor "thingy", but I'd have to go along with the theory that something else had caused it to burn out.. Overloaded wipers motor maybe? Wipers jammed etc??

Good luck

I should have said that my wipers park position had jammed and burnt the motor out. I'm just trying to find what the resistor is for and it's size. I've replaced it with another resistor and the wipers work, but I don't know if something else should be happening.
P.S. My wife doesn't drive the car much (37,000 miles) so I'd just like to restore this piece so I know things are right.